These might not be the greatest songs ever written, but you've heard them a million times. Now you'll be able to bore your friends with the stories behind them.

Curt Cobain on "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

That came from something I used to say every time I used to walk into a party to break the ice. A lot of times, when you're standing around with people in a room, it's really boring and uncomfortable. So it was, "Well here we are, entertain us. You invited us here."

Mark Knopfler on "Money For Nothing"

That came from a big meathead working in an electrical appliance store in New York. He was watching MTV while moving boxes. I spied on him through a little gap in the microwave section, and the lines he was coming out with were so classic that I had to write them down as fast as possible. He actually said things like, "What's that? Hawaiian noises?" and "maybe get a blister on your little finger." And then he said, "That ain't workin'" . . . Little did he know.

Chrissie Hynde on "Back On The Chain Gang"

"I found a picture of you." It was from a little photograph of Ray Davies I found in a wallet. We were trying to work the song out in sound checks for a while, but later when my guitar player died I finished the song off with him in mind.

• Behind The Songs: Jewel, Counting Crows, Sir Mix-A-Lot
• Behind The Songs: Flaming Lips, Cake, Liz Phair
• via Rolling Stone

Filed in: music